New Delhi, Oct 5 : Around 12.21 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy has been procured in the states of Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana, benefitting 99,675 farmers with MSP (minimum support price) value of Rs 2,689.77 crore. This procurement was done till October 3, 2023 under the kharif marketing season 2023-24, official sources said. Meanwhile 1.89 LMT of wheat and 0.05 LMT rice was sold to 2,255 bidders during the 15th e-auction conducted under the open market sale scheme (domestic) held on Wednesday (October 4). A quantity of 2.01 LMT wheat from 481 depots and 4.87 LMT rice from 264 depots were offered from across the country under the auction. As a part of Centre's initiative for market intervention to control the retail price of rice, wheat and atta, weekly e-auctions of both wheat and rice are being organised. In the e-auction, 2,447 empanelled buyers participated for both wheat and rice. /IANS